OPPORTUNITY

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people and commercial vehicles cross international borders around the world. In 2017, 52.4 million two-way passenger vehicle movements were recorded at Canada/U.S. border crossings alone. With increasing traffic and demand at international borders, it is essential to consistently enhance the management, efficiency and safety of cross-border vehicle transportation. This includes the ability to reduce wait times at border crossings and respond rapidly and effectively during an emergency to help save lives. A Canada-Israel R&D team aims to help address this objective through an integrated Intelligent Border Crossing and Connected Vehicle System.

Objective

This CIIRDF-supported R&D project brought together:

Amika Mobile, a Canadian firm that delivers critical and emergency communication and control solutions to first responders and border security with an internationally patented and much awarded platform. This technology addresses security for the Internet of Things (IoT), automatically discovers mobile devices in public places such as airports, issue alerts to their location. It also integrated with many physical security systems including gunshot detection.

Mobility Insight (Mobi), an Israeli company established to reduce congestion in the connected car era. The company has developed a turnkey mobility management platform leveraging data fusion, machine learning and simulation. Employing traffic network demand analysis, predictive alerts and real-time simulation, this solution helps cities and transportation authorities to predict future usage, and proactive mitigation of traffic congestion.

Leveraging critical support from CIIRDF, Amika Mobile and Mobi combined their expertise to advance technology that enhances the efficiency and safety of border crossings with an Intelligent Border Crossing and Connected Vehicle System that:

These capabilities allow drivers to schedule border crossings at the most efficient times; border crossing agents to better predict and manage high traffic demand; and first responders to undertake more rapid life-saving action in emergencies.

Outcome

“CIIRDF enabled us to collaborate on a proof-of-concept that demonstrates how our platform technology can be used to enhance the safety and productive management of international borders. It also targets smart cities that will require our IoT and AI capabilities to better identify and manage urgent threats. Our recent announcement as an OEM to Dell will help leverage the Amika Mobile platform in smart cities and AT&T’s FirstNet, the first responder network for police, fire and emergency medical services (EMS) in the U.S. This solution will be a gamechanger at borders around the world, improving traffic management, border productivity and communications in critical emergency situations.”

Dr. Sue Abu-Hakima, Co-Founder, President and CEO, Amika Mobile.

“Writer William Gibson said: ‘The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed’, which perfectly describes connected vehicle space today. At Mobi, we are building tools that leverage connected vehicle technology with our advanced Road Network Management platform. This creates a new kind of mobility management system. Our project with Amika Mobile enabled us to develop novel proof of concept capability for borders showcasing the promise and opportunity of connected vehicle enabled intelligent mobility systems. CIIRDF support was integral to the creation of this new, disruptive system. We expect our integrated Intelligent Border Crossing and Connected Vehicle System will be operational within five years and generate millions in revenues over time.”